German submarine U-86 (1941) (2024)

German submarine U-86 (1941)
Career
Name:	U-86
Ordered:	9 June 1938
Builder:	Flender Werke, Lübeck
Cost:	4,714,000 Reichsmark
Yard number:	282
Laid down:	20 January 1940
Launched:	10 May 1941
Commissioned:	8 July 1941
Fate:	Sunk by British warships, 29 November 1943
General characteristics
Class & type:	Type VIIB U-boat
Displacement:	753t (741 long tons) ↑ 857t (843 long tons) ↓[1]
Length:	66.5m (218ft 2in) (o/a) 48.8m (160ft 1in) (pressure hull)[1]
Beam:	6.2m (20ft 4in) [convert: invalid number] (pressure hull)[1]
Draught:	4.74m (15ft 7in)[1]
Propulsion:	2 × supercharged MAN, 6 cylinder, 4-stroke M 6 V 40/46 diesel engines totalling 2,800–3,200shp (2,100–2,400kW). Max rpm: 470-490 ↑ 2 × BBC GG UB 720/8 electric motors with 750shp (560kW) for 295 rpm ↓[2]
Speed:	17.9kn (33.2km/h) ↑ 8kn (15km/h)[1]
Range:	9,700nmi (18,000km) @ 10 knots ↑ 90nmi (170km) @ 4 knots ↓[1]
Test depth:	230m (750ft). Calculated crush depth: 250–295m (820–968ft)
Boats & landing craft carried:	1 inflatable rubber boat[2]
Complement:	44 to 48 officers and ratings
Armament:	• 5 × 53.3cm (21in) torpedo tubes: four bow, one stern • 14 × torpedoes or 26 TMA mines • 1 × 8.8cm (3.5in) deck gun with 220 rounds • 1 × C30 20 mm AA

German submarine U-86 was a Type VIIB U-boat of the Nazi German Kriegsmarine during World War II.

She was laid down at the Flender Werke in Lübeck on 20 January 1940 as Werk 282. Launched on 10 May 1941, she was commissioned on 8 July and completed training with the 5th U-boat Flotilla under the command of Kapitänleutnant (Kptlt.) Walter Schug. She was reassigned to the 1st flotilla, initially for further training on 1 September before being ready for operations from 1 December. She stayed with that organization until her loss on 29 November 1943.

U-86 completed eight war patrols with the flotilla, sinking three ships, totalling 9,614gross register tons(GRT). She also damaged a ship of 8,627 GRT. She was a member of ten wolfpacks.

She was sunk in November 1943 by two British warships.

Operational career[]

1st patrol[]

U-86 departed Kiel on 7 December 1941 for her first patrol. She docked at Brest on the French Atlantic coast on the 22nd where she would be based for the rest of her career.

2nd patrol[]

U-86's second patrol started on 27 December 1941. She damaged the British Toorak on 16 January 1942. On the 18th, she sank the Greek Dimitios G. Thermiotis.

3rd and 4th patrols[]

On her third foray, she left Brest on 25 March 1942. It was relatively uneventful. She returned on 26 May.

Sortie number four began on 2 July 1942. On 6 August, she sank an American sailing ship, the Wawaloam with her deck gun.

5th, 6th and 7th patrols[]

This (fifth) outing was also quiet, starting on 31 October 1942 and finishing on 7 January 1943.

Having left Brest on 24 February 1943, she encountered and sank her final victim, the Norwegian Brant County on 11 March.U-86's seventh patrol was between 8 July and 11 September 1943.

8th patrol and loss[]

The boat departed Brest for the last time on 11 November 1943. She was sunk east of the Azores on the 29th by depth charges from the British destroyers HMSTumult and Rocket.

50 men died; there were no survivors.

Previously recorded fate[]

U-86 was listed as missing in the North Atlantic from 28 November 1943.
The boat was claimed sunk by aircraft from the USSBogue on 29 November 1943. This attack was subsequently attributed to U-764 which escaped undamaged.

Summary of raiding career[]

Date	Ship [3]	Nationality	Tonnage	Fate
16 January 1942	Toorak	Great Britain	8,627	Damaged
18 January 1942	Dimitrios G. Thermiotis	Greece	4,271	Sunk
6 August 1942	Wawaloam *	USA	342	Sunk
11 March 1943	Brant County	Norway	5,001	Sunk

* Sailing ship

See also[]

• List of German U-boats

References[]

Notes

Bibliography

• Bishop, C. Kriegsmarine U-Boats, 1939-45. Amber Books, 2006.
• Gröner, Erich (1990). German Warships, 1815-1945. Conway Maritime Press.
• Hickam, Homer "Torpedo Junction" Naval Institute Press

External links[]

• Uboat Archive - U-86
• Uboat.net: U-86